Log #1 2/21/12, 2/23/12
I had my first week of practicum at a local middle school. I am there for part of seventh grade band and for the entire eighth grade band hour.
On Tuesday, one of the directors gave me a tour of the facilities and gave me some information about the school and the specific classes I will be with. During the eighth grade band hour, the head director asked if I would take a student to the library and work with him one-on-one. This student is a trumpet player that is being switched to tuba. He asked that I work with the student on reading bass clef (he is only familiar with treble clef) and tuba fingerings, and supplied me with a fingering chart to use. I was actually very comfortable teaching this lesson. I have a basic trumpet background, so I am familiar with brass fingerings (the patterns are basically the same) and how the instruments work. I found the student to be very bright--he caught on to concepts quickly--and self-motivated. I first introduced him to the bass clef and acronyms for remembering note names. This experience was EXTREMELY helpful to me, because I have really never taught a basic theory lesson like this before. We revisited these note names throughout the lesson, and I also introduced the concert Bb scale fingerings. When I showed him that the pattern of these fingerings on tuba were identical to those on trumpet (for a C scale), he was very excited. I tried to base my teaching on his prior knowledge. I tried to avoid talking too much about transposition because I thought that might be confusing at this point.
On Thursday, the director had me sit by this student in eighth grade band. This was his first day playing tuba in the band. I tried to encourage him to focus on playing the open-fingered notes (Bb, F, and higher Bb) only at first. I was incredibly impressed that he maintained a positive attitude throughout class and did not become frustrated. During a fast-tempo piece, he was really struggling with fingerings--which was completely understandable. I tried to write some fingerings in for him. I asked him to try to just play the downbeat note of each measure at first. This was helpful because it gave him more time to think.
I am very excited that the band directors support my active participation in the classroom. I feel like I am learning a lot already through observation and working with students one-on-one.
On Tuesday, one of the directors gave me a tour of the facilities and gave me some information about the school and the specific classes I will be with. During the eighth grade band hour, the head director asked if I would take a student to the library and work with him one-on-one. This student is a trumpet player that is being switched to tuba. He asked that I work with the student on reading bass clef (he is only familiar with treble clef) and tuba fingerings, and supplied me with a fingering chart to use. I was actually very comfortable teaching this lesson. I have a basic trumpet background, so I am familiar with brass fingerings (the patterns are basically the same) and how the instruments work. I found the student to be very bright--he caught on to concepts quickly--and self-motivated. I first introduced him to the bass clef and acronyms for remembering note names. This experience was EXTREMELY helpful to me, because I have really never taught a basic theory lesson like this before. We revisited these note names throughout the lesson, and I also introduced the concert Bb scale fingerings. When I showed him that the pattern of these fingerings on tuba were identical to those on trumpet (for a C scale), he was very excited. I tried to base my teaching on his prior knowledge. I tried to avoid talking too much about transposition because I thought that might be confusing at this point.
On Thursday, the director had me sit by this student in eighth grade band. This was his first day playing tuba in the band. I tried to encourage him to focus on playing the open-fingered notes (Bb, F, and higher Bb) only at first. I was incredibly impressed that he maintained a positive attitude throughout class and did not become frustrated. During a fast-tempo piece, he was really struggling with fingerings--which was completely understandable. I tried to write some fingerings in for him. I asked him to try to just play the downbeat note of each measure at first. This was helpful because it gave him more time to think.
I am very excited that the band directors support my active participation in the classroom. I feel like I am learning a lot already through observation and working with students one-on-one.
Log #2 2/28/12, 3/1/12
On Tuesday, I observed the second half of the eighth grade band rehearsal. The students were especially talkative and distracted. The director used a technique I have never seen before. He stepped off the podium for about five minutes and allowed them time to talk amongst themselves, and then resumed rehearsal. I thought this seemed like it might be a good idea, but I didn't notice that it had much of a positive effect--the students continued to talk as they had before. I could still see this technique being effective, but I think it would depend greatly on each individual situation. During the eighth grade class, I worked one-on-one with the student who was being switched from trumpet to tuba. I have really enjoyed working with him--he is very positive, hard-working, and not easily frustrated. His bass clef reading is coming along well, and he seems to be grasping the concept of the relationship between trumpet and tuba fingerings. I worked with him a lot on air and breathing, as this seems to be an issue right now. I used an illustration I heard in a KMEA workshop for diaphragmatic breathing, and it was very effective. I explained to him the difference between blowing into the instrument and blowing through the instrument, and this really seemed to help him make better transitions between partials.
On Thursday, I worked with the "struggling learner" that I will be teaching for my ED 402 class. First, I did an interest inventory with him so I could get to know him, his strengths, and his weaknesses better. He seems like a very kind individual who has many interests and abilities. I found out that he plays guitar by ear and really enjoys music class and English. He likes to write stories, and enjoys reading as well. As we talked more about music class, I learned that he was a trumpet player who was switched to baritone. I asked him to play a B flat scale, and he immediately looked uncomfortable. When I asked what was wrong, he said he only likes playing in a group because he can listen to those around him. I then found out that he actually did not know the fingerings to a B flat scale, and his music reading abilities were not at a proficient level. I believe that when he plays in the band, he tries to get by playing by ear. I also learned that he is not able to take his instrument home to practice most of the time. His father works late and often is not able to pick him up from school, so he must take the bus. No instruments larger than a trumpet are allowed on the bus. I am in the midst of determining a reasonable goal for this student that I can help him work toward. It will definitely be geared toward reading and note fingerings, but I haven't yet determined the scope of the goal.
Log #3 3/6/12 & 3/8/12
On Tuesday, I worked one-on-one with my student for my ED 402 class. He plays baritone. The director explained to me that he consistently does poorly on playing tests and really struggles with playing his part in ensemble work. During my time with the student, I gave him a sheet with various notes on a bass clef staff and asked him to write the note names under them. He hesitated, and looked very nervous--so, I went through a couple of strategies to remember note names (acronyms, finding the bass clef "dot"). Now that I know he really can't read music (he seemed to really struggle with rhythmic values also), I have an idea of where to start. Based on comments he has made, I know that he plays guitar at home by ear, and genuinely enjoys music. I believe that he simply doesn't think that reading music is important or relevant to him: "If I am experiencing musical success/satisfaction on my own without having to read music, why should I learn or care?" I have struggled with deciding exactly which goals to focus on during the extremely limited amount of time I have with this student. I really wanted to develop more of the performance aspect (playing scales, sightreading, etc.); however, I am beginning to think this may not be in the student's best interest. I think I really need to start with the basics of reading and notating music before I can expect success in these other areas. I am a little worried about how much we will actually be able to accomplish in a short amount of time. I am currently in the process of developing strategies for teaching him these basics, and, possibly more importantly, helping him to see the importance of acquiring these skills. He thoroughly enjoys music--I need to help him see how learning to read music will enhance his own experiences.
On Thursday, the head director was absent. Another director led the band rehearsal. He asked me to take the 7th grade percussionists into the auditorium for about ten minutes to work on their parts for a particular piece. I was a little worried at first, but it actually ended up going very well! The students were a little rambunctious, but overall easy to work with. Each student played their rhythms by tapping drumsticks on the stage. The most challenging part of this was that each student was playing a different part (snare, bells, cymbals, bass drum, etc.), and I did not have a master score. I was constantly walking around checking on students' accuracy. The student with the bell part was struggling some with rhythms (they were fairly difficult for middle school). He experienced more success when I had him speak the rhythms first, and then play them. Also, I asked a couple of other students to play along with him in hopes of making him feel less "singled out" and to cut down on management issues.
Log #4 3/15/12
I did not go to my practicum site on Tuesday during this week because I had to take a midterm exam during that time.
On Thursday, I had a session with the student I am working with for my ED 402 class. Through different exercises and assessments, I have found one of his main issues is that he does not know notes on the bass clef staff. I spent some time previous to this session brainstorming ways to work on this skill that might be more interesting to him than simple drill exercises (flashcards, worksheets, etc.). I spoke to some of my classmates about this and asked if they had any ideas. After I mentioned that he wanted to learn how to play bass, someone suggested that I write some bass lines out for him and give him the guitar fingerings as well. I thought this was a great idea! I wrote out several bass lines, and arranged them so that he could learn new notes progressively. I did not, however, give him the bass guitar fingerings. I felt that because I have such limited time with him, that I really needed him to focus on his baritone playing and learning the notes. When I showed him the bass lines and explained to him that he could learn similar progressions on guitar, I could tell he was more motivated. We first worked on identifying note names and simple interval relationships (skips and steps, lines and spaces, etc.). Eventually, we went to playing a couple of the simpler bass lines. He seemed to be much more interested in learning to read music when he was able to relate it to guitar-playing--something I can tell he thoroughly enjoys. I definitely owe my thanks to my friend for this idea. This further emphasized to me what a valuable resource my peers are.
Log #5 3/27/12, 3/29/12
On Tuesday, I first observed an assistant director leading a percussion ensemble rehearsal in the auditorium. They were in the beginning stages of rehearsing their piece, so he did a lot of work on individual parts. Overall, I was very impressed with the students' reading abilities. At one point, he asked me to work with a student on his toms part while he rehearsed with other members of the group. The student was mainly having issues with a couple of tricky rhythms. Because I only had a few minutes to help him, I chose to teach him these by rote. I demonstrated them using my voice and my hands a couple of times, and then had him join me. I found it was helpful to slow down the tempo and use vocal syllables that helped clarify/emphasize syncopation. The student caught on very quickly, and demonstrated improved accuracy when he rejoined the group. There were a couple of ensemble members who were being disruptive throughout the rehearsal. The director spoke with them after class, which I thought was appropriate.
On Thursday, the main director was rehearsing the Disney medley with the students. He asked me if I would take the clarinet section into his office and lead a sectional. He said to focus especially on a faster, difficult passage that they were struggling with. I was a little nervous about this initially. I have not yet taken Single Reed Techniques, so I am not familiar with a lot of the technical aspects of clarinet-playing. The sectional went well, however. I found the biggest issue in the section was that they play very "heavy." This causes their tempos to not be together, and this leads to other problems in terms of pitch and rhythm. At one point, I told them they sounded like they were "trudging through mud." (I did this in a humorous, hopefully non-offensive way.) I asked them to play "lightly," as though they were tip-toeing. This helped immensely, especially in the problematic section. I still needed to address some wrong notes and rhythms, but this did not take too much time because the students have good reading skills. The students did become a little confused in regards to time. The fast section that needed work was in cut time; however, when I slowed it down, I counted/conducted it in four. Looking back, I think it would have been better for the students if I would have kept it in a slower 2. Switching between 2 and 4 caused some rhythmic confusion, but these issues were resolved over time.
Log #6 4/3/12
On Tuesday, I observed the director rehearsing the eighth grade band wind players (the percussion section was rehearsing elsewhere). He worked the ensemble through a "Crime Stoppers" medley. I have found that his rehearsal pacing is very effective. He isolates parts to address issues, but not to the extent that he loses the focus of the rest of the ensemble. I think this is something I should consider as I run rehearsals. When I run rehearsals, I feel that sometimes I stop the ensemble too often to address issues. This can lead to students becoming frustrated or bored if they are not the section being addressed. The director does not avoid ensemble issues that need to be addressed, but he frequently alternates rehearsal of tutti sections with isolation of specific sections. Also, he is able to use some humor in rehearsals, which is really effective with this age group. The students seem to enjoy band class and respect him as an instructor.
During the seventh grade period, I did a lesson with the student I have been working with one-on-one. I conducted my diagnostic exam, which was a written assessment of his knowledge of bass clef note names, his notation abilities, and his knowledge of baritone fingerings and partials. This was EXTREMELY helpful for both of us. We had done some previous work on this, but as I watched him fill in the exam and asked him questions about how he reached his answers, I got a much clearer view of what specific deficiencies are causing him to struggle. I realized that he was very confused about the relationship between the musical alphabet and the order of notes on the staff (he thought that the lowest note on the staff should automatically be an A because it is the first letter in the alphabet). I did not allow him to change his answers on the assessment because I wanted it to reflect his true starting point; however, we were able to use this evaluation as a basis for the lesson. He was very open with me in terms of describing his thought processes, so I was able to address his specific needs, and structure this entire lesson around his learning obstacles. My time with him consisted of letting him fill out the sheet on his own, going back over the questions, talking about how he arrived at his answers, addressing misconceptions, and practicing new skills. My major concern at this point is that changing his music reading methods will be difficult because he has had inaccurate misconceptions for so long and because I have a very limited amount of time to spend with him. This has, however, been a great experience for me in terms of really using assessment to design my instruction.
On Thursday, I had a session with the student I am working with for my ED 402 class. Through different exercises and assessments, I have found one of his main issues is that he does not know notes on the bass clef staff. I spent some time previous to this session brainstorming ways to work on this skill that might be more interesting to him than simple drill exercises (flashcards, worksheets, etc.). I spoke to some of my classmates about this and asked if they had any ideas. After I mentioned that he wanted to learn how to play bass, someone suggested that I write some bass lines out for him and give him the guitar fingerings as well. I thought this was a great idea! I wrote out several bass lines, and arranged them so that he could learn new notes progressively. I did not, however, give him the bass guitar fingerings. I felt that because I have such limited time with him, that I really needed him to focus on his baritone playing and learning the notes. When I showed him the bass lines and explained to him that he could learn similar progressions on guitar, I could tell he was more motivated. We first worked on identifying note names and simple interval relationships (skips and steps, lines and spaces, etc.). Eventually, we went to playing a couple of the simpler bass lines. He seemed to be much more interested in learning to read music when he was able to relate it to guitar-playing--something I can tell he thoroughly enjoys. I definitely owe my thanks to my friend for this idea. This further emphasized to me what a valuable resource my peers are.
Log #5 3/27/12, 3/29/12
On Tuesday, I first observed an assistant director leading a percussion ensemble rehearsal in the auditorium. They were in the beginning stages of rehearsing their piece, so he did a lot of work on individual parts. Overall, I was very impressed with the students' reading abilities. At one point, he asked me to work with a student on his toms part while he rehearsed with other members of the group. The student was mainly having issues with a couple of tricky rhythms. Because I only had a few minutes to help him, I chose to teach him these by rote. I demonstrated them using my voice and my hands a couple of times, and then had him join me. I found it was helpful to slow down the tempo and use vocal syllables that helped clarify/emphasize syncopation. The student caught on very quickly, and demonstrated improved accuracy when he rejoined the group. There were a couple of ensemble members who were being disruptive throughout the rehearsal. The director spoke with them after class, which I thought was appropriate.
On Thursday, the main director was rehearsing the Disney medley with the students. He asked me if I would take the clarinet section into his office and lead a sectional. He said to focus especially on a faster, difficult passage that they were struggling with. I was a little nervous about this initially. I have not yet taken Single Reed Techniques, so I am not familiar with a lot of the technical aspects of clarinet-playing. The sectional went well, however. I found the biggest issue in the section was that they play very "heavy." This causes their tempos to not be together, and this leads to other problems in terms of pitch and rhythm. At one point, I told them they sounded like they were "trudging through mud." (I did this in a humorous, hopefully non-offensive way.) I asked them to play "lightly," as though they were tip-toeing. This helped immensely, especially in the problematic section. I still needed to address some wrong notes and rhythms, but this did not take too much time because the students have good reading skills. The students did become a little confused in regards to time. The fast section that needed work was in cut time; however, when I slowed it down, I counted/conducted it in four. Looking back, I think it would have been better for the students if I would have kept it in a slower 2. Switching between 2 and 4 caused some rhythmic confusion, but these issues were resolved over time.
Log #6 4/3/12
On Tuesday, I observed the director rehearsing the eighth grade band wind players (the percussion section was rehearsing elsewhere). He worked the ensemble through a "Crime Stoppers" medley. I have found that his rehearsal pacing is very effective. He isolates parts to address issues, but not to the extent that he loses the focus of the rest of the ensemble. I think this is something I should consider as I run rehearsals. When I run rehearsals, I feel that sometimes I stop the ensemble too often to address issues. This can lead to students becoming frustrated or bored if they are not the section being addressed. The director does not avoid ensemble issues that need to be addressed, but he frequently alternates rehearsal of tutti sections with isolation of specific sections. Also, he is able to use some humor in rehearsals, which is really effective with this age group. The students seem to enjoy band class and respect him as an instructor.
During the seventh grade period, I did a lesson with the student I have been working with one-on-one. I conducted my diagnostic exam, which was a written assessment of his knowledge of bass clef note names, his notation abilities, and his knowledge of baritone fingerings and partials. This was EXTREMELY helpful for both of us. We had done some previous work on this, but as I watched him fill in the exam and asked him questions about how he reached his answers, I got a much clearer view of what specific deficiencies are causing him to struggle. I realized that he was very confused about the relationship between the musical alphabet and the order of notes on the staff (he thought that the lowest note on the staff should automatically be an A because it is the first letter in the alphabet). I did not allow him to change his answers on the assessment because I wanted it to reflect his true starting point; however, we were able to use this evaluation as a basis for the lesson. He was very open with me in terms of describing his thought processes, so I was able to address his specific needs, and structure this entire lesson around his learning obstacles. My time with him consisted of letting him fill out the sheet on his own, going back over the questions, talking about how he arrived at his answers, addressing misconceptions, and practicing new skills. My major concern at this point is that changing his music reading methods will be difficult because he has had inaccurate misconceptions for so long and because I have a very limited amount of time to spend with him. This has, however, been a great experience for me in terms of really using assessment to design my instruction.
